Official Pest Reports are provided by National Plant Protection Organizations within the NAPPO region. These Pest Reports are intended to
comply with the International Plant Protection Convention's Standard on Pest Reporting, endorsed
by the Interim Commission on Phytosanitary Measures in March 2002.

Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar): Regulated areas established in West Virginia

Date posted: 12/04/2012

Contact: Jason Watkins, APHIS’ State Plant Health Director for West Virginia, at (304) 372-8590 or Julie Spaulding, National Policy Manager, at (301) 851-2184

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) expanded its gypsy moth (GM), Lymantria dispar, regulated area to include McDowell, Mercer, Raleigh, Summers, and Wyoming Counties, West Virginia. The GM populations in these counties have reached the threshold level to trigger the regulated area.

The Federal Order establishes McDowell, Mercer, Raleigh, Summers, and Wyoming Counties, West Virginia, as regulated areas in order to prevent the further spread of GM. Effective immediately, all interstate movement of GM-regulated articles from these counties must be handled in accordance with the Federal Order. The West Virginia Department of Agriculture has already established a parallel State quarantine.

GM is a highly destructive insect of approximately 300 species of trees and shrubs. The GM program prescribes conditions for the interstate movement of regulated articles from GM quarantine areas. The Federal and State partnership works to limit the establishment of GM outside of the quarantine area due to human-assisted movement of the pest.

Under IPPC standards, Lymantria dispar is a pest that is present: only in some areas and subject to official control in the United States.